Keeper coaches, the moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived – Keeper’s inaugural inseason position changes are here!
Keeper is revolutionizing how player positions are managed with a systematic approach designed specifically for draft fantasy leagues. The position updates will follow rounds 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18.
These regular position updates create exciting new strategic dimensions for Keeper coaches. Players who gain additional positions instantly become more valuable draft assets, while for savvy coaches, spotting these trends early could give you a significant advantage over your competition.
Josh Daicos is a Keeper favourite, and his new defender status elevates him to a whole new level of value. He becomes one of the rare defenders capable of delivering consistent 90+ scores—a premium asset in a position that, for some teams, may lack defensive firepower.
Nobody should be surprised to see Rory Laird gain defender status. For almost a decade, he’s been a premium performer, and now he returns to the place where it all began. An average of 99.3 places him immediately inside the top 10 defenders by average—a ranking we expect him to maintain throughout the season.
Like Laird and Daicos before him, Dylan Shiel’s move into defence has been flagged throughout the entire pre-season, with some even bumping him up their rankings as a result. Thankfully for owners, the gamble has paid off. While his scoring hasn’t been outstanding, last weekend’s 97 will give coaches hope that all is not lost. He also saw an increase in midfield minutes, which is clearly where he scores best.
The defender gains also introduce our first-ever Triple Position Players (TPPs). Caleb Daniel, Ryan Maric, and Mark Blicavs make history as the inaugural TPP options. Depending on league sizes and on-field structure, all three could be valuable assets—especially when playing with full squads during bye rounds.
Nic Martin is the crown jewel of this list of new forwards, thanks to his newly acquired DEF/FWD status. He has returned to the role he first played at Essendon—as a half-forward pushing up the wings. His scoring has been OK, but not at the heights of his 2024 season. Owners will be praying for another role tweak and one that is back to his 2024 position as a rebounding defender. If that happens, his scoring could explode. Pray it in!
Veterans Patrick Dangerfield and Stephen Coniglio, both nearing the end of their illustrious careers, have gained FWD status, breathing new life into their Keeper relevance. Neither has been outstanding due to a consistent lack of midfield opportunities—especially for Cogs. Regardless, the MID/FWD tag now makes them viable forward options, whereas as pure midfielders, they were questionable holds in most squads.
Young guns Murphy Reid and Sam Lalor are already making waves in 2025. Between us, how Murphy missed the Rising Star nomination this week is beyond me. Anyway, rant over… As first-year players, both are just below the under-18 scoring baseline that coaches look for. However, their new MID/FWD status makes them handy additions for Keeper and dynasty leagues. If you’re playing the long game, these two have shown plenty of promise—even if it hasn’t yet translated into strong Keeper scores.
Just one ruck gain—and it should come as no surprise. Sam De Koning. His real value lies in the fact that he’s scoring well enough to be fieldable as a defender. But if he holds his ruck role and you lose your current ruck to injury, he becomes a massive asset. Nothing is worse in Keeper than having to shop the player pool for a ruckman.
To find out more about Keepers selection process click here.
The fantasy football positions for 2024 have been released for SuperCoach, AFLFantasy & DreamTeam. One of the keys to success in these formats is nailing the right cash cows in your starting squad. We’ve listed every position for the players selected in the recent AFL Draft.
Champion data have revealed the new fantasy football positions for SuperCoach, AFLFantasy and DreamTeam for 2024. As usual, we’ve got some significant positional gains and disappearances. 87 players will start with DPP, down from 149 who commenced last season with the flexible position allocations. MJ’s back to take you through the changes.
Have no fear; Nick Daicos is still here. One of the premium stars of 2024 can still be selected with our backlines and holds DEF/MID status. Based on his late-season heavy midfield role, this could be his final season for the foreseeable as a defender.
Tom Stewart, James Sicily, Luke Ryan, Nic Newman, Jayden Short and Dan Houston all maintain pure defensive status, while Harry Sheezel, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Lachie Ash, Lachie Whitfield and Jason Johannisen, who held DPP, are among several players who will only be selectable to start the year as a defender.
After reading through the list, I was surprised that James Sinclair is listed as a pure defender, but I was convinced his consistent centre bounce and wing time over the year would be enough to be a DEF/MID. Regarding St Kilda players, Marcus Windhager might provide some mid-late draft range value by picking up DEF/MID status. Heading down the highway, Mitch Duncan will always be a popular player, especially in drafts; he maintains his defensive status for 2024.
Speaking of draft rankings, a few guys will maintain some interest in the community with their availability on the backlines. Elliot Yeo is a DEF/MID, Joel Jeffery is a DEF/FWD, and Liam Baker is still a DEF/FWD. I was concerned that Darcy Wilmot’s role on the wing might cost him DEF status; thankfully, those fears have proven unfounded. He’s selectable again as a defender in 2024.
Many of the previous season’s topline forward-eligible options have lost this position and become midfielders only. Unsurprisingly, last year’s best options in our forward lines will all lose DPP and be solely available as a midfielder. Josh Dunkley, Tim Taranto, Errol Gulden, Zak Butters, Stephen Coniglio, Connor Rozee & ZakButters. You can also throw in Jason Horne-Francis, Ben Hobbs and Tarryn Thomas as MID/FWDs from 2023, transitioning into midfielders for 2024.
Our forward lines weren’t the only line to lose some upper-tier options; all of Sam Docherty, Will Day and Adelaide skipper Jordan Dawson have lost defensive status; they’ll each be listed as pure midfielders.
There was some hope amongst the fantasy community that players such as Sam Walsh & Christian Petracca have possible options to pick up MID/FWD status; however, that isn’t the case in both instances. According to Fantasy Freako, the Twitter/X handle behind Champion Data, Petracca, was under 3% of variance away from picking up forward status. So, while not great news for starting squads, a refresher heading into rounds 6. 12 or 18, he’s got the potential to gain dual position status with some luck.
Even if players lose or don’t gain DPP, they are still relevant prospects for the coming season. For example, Jordan Dawson finished last season in SuperCoach, AFLFantasy & DreamTeam ranked fourth overall for points. Even without defender status, I can see him backing up similar scoring output and scoring in 2024.
Rarely do we see any drastic changes of gains into the ruck line, but we do see some DPP gains and losses year on year. Collingwood premiership player Darcy Cameron has been a popular RUC/FWD over the previous two seasons, but in 2024, he’s set to be a pure ruck. Mark Blicavs maintains the unique MID/RUCK, which is supremely valuable in draft leagues.
Last year, Melbourne & North Melbourne spent large portions of the year with two rucks playing on the one side. The hope was that one of Max Gawn, Brodie Grundy, Todd Goldstein or Tristan Xerri might pick up RUC/FWD status. However, this didn’t happen; all are pure rucks next season.
In some good news, the popular R3 Max Heath has held RUC/FWD DPP and could prove a popular loophole and swingman option. He’s not the only RUC/FWD, Fremantle’s Luke Jackson has maintained it. And should Sean Darcy miss games early, I can see plenty in the community targeting him.
A trio of Western Bulldogs arguably lead the conversation for potential topline billing in our forwards. Caleb Daniel, Bailey Smith and Jackson Macrae have maintained the forward status they gained during the previous season. While all have positional volatility under their coach, a compelling narrative exists where each could be a clear top-six forward by the conclusion of 2024. It’ll take a brave coach to start one, let alone multiple.
Structurally, in 2023, I saw many teams start with four or as many as five premium forward options. Based on the options available, despite it being so early in the preseason, I’m confident to advocate against that approach in 2024.
Late-season flyer Sam Flanders has held onto MID/FWD status. His scoring power can not be ignored or dismissed. But the uncertainty of who fills the Gold Coast Suns midfield roles and how they play stylistically will ensure coaches will be slightly tentative to commit to going all in on him. If he maintains that roaming half-forward/midfield role, he could be seen in many teams by round one.
After a surprise trade to the Swans, Taylor Adams has maintained MID/FWD status. After moving clubs in the hope of more midfield responsibility, it looms as only his health being a primary reason for coaches not to pursue him as an attractive starting squad option. He’s shown over multiple years that he can average well north of 100+ across the formats.
Over the past few seasons as a community, we’ve become accustomed to being able to select players who are more realistic midfielders. Still, for a few reasons, they’ve picked up forward status. With this not being the case as widely in 2024, it makes players such as Charlie Curnow & Jeremy Cameron. It could also mean the high forwards / damaging roaming options like IsaacHeeney, Shai Bolton, Dustin Martin, Toby Greene, and even Dylan Moore all present an interesting preseason conversation at the very least.
For draft formats, not just keeper leagues, I can see the value of Elijah Tstas, Jye Caldwell, Jai Culley and Elijah Hewett increasing as they walk into this season with MID/FWD status. Given the potential ‘low bar’ of what it might take to be a fieldable forward this year, all have the potential capacity to be on-field scorers for us.
The #1 draft pick, Harley Reid, will be available as a MID/FWD. The question isn’t whether he will get games. You could build a compelling case that he’s already the most talented player on the Eagles list. The real question around Harley is whether he can score highly enough at the elite level to make ‘spending up’ on him a worthwhile financial outlay. Something no doubt to debate over the preseason.
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Like every season, we’ll lose a couple of good top-end premium options, but we still retain some strong ones. Given their role for their teams deep inside defensive 50, I don’t think anyone would be shocked to see Tom Stewart, James Sicily, Luke Ryan, Nic Newman, and Dan Houston maintain pure defensive status. All found themselves amongst the top dozen options across some formats last year, and you can build a compelling case they’ll all be there again this coming year.
Last year, Harry Sheezel, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Lachie Ash, Lachie Whitfield and Jason Johannisen were among several players who all picked up defensive status during the 2023 season. These five had DPP last year, but I have them all as pure defenders in my forecast for the coming season.
Some pockets of the SuperCoach, AFLFantasy & DreamTeam community have Nick Daicos dropping his DEF/MID status and being just a midfielder, given his increasing midfield time as the year went on. While I can see a time coming (maybe as soon as 2025) when he is an exclusive midfielder, I’ve got some confidence he’ll be available as a DEF/MID heading into this coming season.
I’ve even seen the same pockets of the community suggest that because Hayden Young did move into the Fremantle midfield late in the year, he’ll not maintain his defensive status. But there’s zero chance of that happening; he only spent five games of his 20+ last year in the midfield. It shouldn’t even be enough for him to get DPP; I see that midfield data is not enough to create a DEF/MID, which is at ‘worst’ what he’ll be.
Before we move off the defenders that could maintain this status, it’s important to touch on Jack Sinclair. The St Kilda speedster did pick up his midfield role in 2023 in contrast to the seasons prior, but while some have him touch & go to maintain defensive eligibility, I’m confident he’ll retain it. The main factor is that he had only seven games where he attended over 40% of centre bounces, and just four were above 50%. Yes, he did spend time starting across the wings; while it won’t shock me if he did lose defensive status, I’ve got him heading into 2024 a DEF/MID.
At first glance, it may not feel relevant, but the new Kangaroo Zac Fisher could be a sneaky option for draft formats and in classic. The former Blue found his feet across half back in the back half of 2023 and posted some more than handy scores. There’ll be some value to be had should he get a comparable role at his new club.
Many of the previous season’s topline forward eligible options lose this position yearly and become midfielders only. Heading into 2024, it’ll be no different. Unsurprisingly, last year’s best options in our forward lines will all lose DPP and be solely available as a midfielder. Josh Dunkley, Tim Taranto, Errol Gulden, Zak Butters, Connor Rozee & ZakButters will lead the candidates of former MID/FWD’s heading into the midfield. Some might hold a vague hope that some retain DPP, but the likelihood of that happening is as likely as Christmas Day being cancelled worldwide this year.
There will likely be plenty of others like JasonHorne-Francis that fall away from MID/FWD status into MID. Still, those above six will be the big names that the SuperCoach, AFLFantasy & DreamTeam community will look at in classic.
The upside is you can genuinely build a compelling narrative that they all could still be relevant as a pure midfielder. They all showed they could score in the realms of the best fantasy midfielders in the game; the only difference beyond positional availability is them being considerably less owned than what they were in 2023.
I’m on the fence about what happens with Sam Flanders. But I think his heavy midfield role towards the end of the year might just cost him DPP. If he holds MID/FWD status I can see a world where his preseason hype hits fever pitch.
We’ll also see a few defenders drop out of this status and move purely into the midfield. Adelaide Crows captain Jordan Dawson will lead this crop. He ended last year with an average of attending 70% centre bounces, but from a SuperCoach & AFLFantasy perspective, he would still be someone highly desirable even as a midfielder. He ended last year ranked 4th across all formats for total points, so moving from being a DEF/MID into a straight MID shouldn’t mean his conversation as a relevant option falls away too far.
You can throw Will Day into the mix as a lock for midfield status next year. The rising star Hawk was a breakout star for us last year, but his heavy midfield role will see him lose defensive status. Sam Docherty spent too much time across the wing and through centre bounces to retain his defender status. Should this happen, we’ll see his value in drafts bottom out from the early rounds and make him lowly owned in classic. If he does lose it, he’d certainly be worth keeping an eye on for an in-season DPP allocation. I’m not as convinced, but Angus Brayshaw loses his DEF/MID status to become a midfielder again. I hope I’m wrong, but those midfield numbers kept growing as the year went on.
Much like in the forward line, the pain might be felt in the depth of keeper leagues with guys that became options to play on the field in the backline and are now just playable as midfielders. Chayce Jones, Reuben Ginbey, Tom Atkins and possibly even Darcy Wilmot, who spent plenty of time across the wings for the Lions.
The top of the tree for our forward lines will be clipped, but that’s an annual occurrence. The good news is we’ll still have plenty of potentially viable scoring prospects without unpacking who might pick up forward status.
Recently, I posted a video about the new Port Adelaide ruck Ivan Soldo on our YouTube channel. Within it, I discussed the potential scoring upside he might have as the #1 ruck at the Pear, but his split of ruck and forward time last season should help him maintain RUC/FWD. Should he win the ruck battle against Jordan Sweet and hold DPP, then Soldo is a potential topline candidate. Last year, in the games he played without Toby Nankervis, he averaged 92 in AFLFantasy and 105 in SuperCoach. If he can deliver that over a full season, he needs to be looked at regardless of our forward player gains.
Speaking of potential RUC/FWD options, I still have Fremantle’s Luke Jackson maintaining this status. Some will say he only scored well when solo ruck, but that is false. There’s enough scoring upside that for draft formats, at minimum, he could provide some significant value based on the drafting position.
Isaac Henney, Toby Greene, Dustin Martin and Shai Bolton will maintain their forward eligibility. They might not ever be the top 6-10 forwards in classic, but for drafts, they’ll all play valuable roles in how we tier out this area of the ground.
During last season, Western Bulldogs pair Bailey Smith and Jackson Macrae both picked up forward status, and I’m forecasting they walk into 2024 with MID/FWD status remaining intact. The positive here is the potential for significant value. Just 12 months ago, both were coming into a new season as viable starting squad options and seen with some value baked into their price. This upside is even greater after an underwhelming season. Should one or both of these Dogs pick up the previously held midfield minutes, they both have the potential to be the top-scoring forwards across the formats.
I fully expect the new Sydney Swan Taylor Adams to keep the forward status entering into 2024 that he picked up last season. The former Magpie was squeezed out of the midfield rotation for large portions of last year. While it impacted his fantasy output in 2023, it will provide significant value at his price point alongside being forward eligible. If he can get through the coming preseason fit, he should be a key part of the Sydney midfield mix and could be one of the most highly-owned fantasy forwards entering round one.
Nobody will be shocked to see it, but I’ve got Adelaide’s Josh Rachele as a forward this coming year and firmly on my breakout radar. As a second-year player, he averaged 89 in AFLFantasy and 86 in SuperCoach in the opening seven rounds of last year. As the year went on, his midfield minutes and scoring started slowing, but it has provided moments where fantasy coaches can see a pathway forward to him scoring well. Monitor his preseason cause if Josh gets that midfield opportunity again, he could come out of the gate swinging.
Every year, we lose a bunch of topline forward premiums, and yet we always find a way in our starting squads to at least have that listed populated with a couple of potential replacements. Don’t be surprised if Christian Petracca jags DPP and is available as a MID/FWD in 2024. Heading into the AFL finals, he was right on the ledge of the 35% forward threshold, according to Fantasy Freko. Based on his role in Melbourne’s games, there appears to be no significant push movement. Either way, it’ll be a small percentage gap that means he either maintains his midfield status or becomes a MID/FWD. I think he will sneak over the line and enter the year as the top forward option.
How much value does Champion Data place on Brodie Grundy’s role in the VFL compared to AFL? If it’s purely just the AFL, of the seventeen games he played last year, only three were without Max Gawn, and it’s only when Gawn wasn’t playing that he attended over 55% CBA’s in a single match. I mention that percentage rate because that’s what he’s sitting at for a season summary. If it’s just pure AFL-level data, then he’s right in consideration for gaining DPP and being a RUC/FWD. However, if the VFL data where he played a heavy ruck role is factored in, he will likely be a forward. Plenty will still have Brodie locked into their starting squad conversation regardless of positional gains.
With the 2023 AFL draft officially over, we’re just weeks away from the announced positions for the coming seasons. Here are my projections of the positions we might see from some of the most relevant prospects.
Harley Reid | MID/FWD Colby McKercher | MIDFIELD Zane Duursma | MID/FWD Jed Walter | FORWARD Nick Watson | FORWARD Ryley Sanders | MIDFIELD Caleb Windsor | MIDFIELD Dan Curtin | DEFENDER Ethan Reed | RUCK Nate Caddy | FORWARD Connor O’Sullivan | DEFENDER Phoenix Gothard | FORWARD Koltyn Tholstrup | MID/FWD Jake Rogers | MIDFIELD Jordan Croft | FORWARD Will Green | RUCK James Leake | DEFENDER/FORWARD Darcy Wilson | MIDFIELD Charlie Edwards | MIDFIELD William McCabe | DEFENDER Riley Hardeman | DEFENDER Cainden Cleary | MIDFIELD Harry Demattia | MIDFIELD
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